SFDA mandates registration of essential drug barcodes
According to the announcement, the SFDA issued a notice on July 17 mandating that manufacturers tag essential drugs with bar codes before passing shipments on to distributors.
Drug manufactures must submit bar code information to a national Web site run by the SFDA by March 31 next year.
From April 1, 2011, essential drugs which do not carry bar codes will not be accepted for the essential drug tender process.
The system will gradually be extended to cover all drugs.
Bar codes have been mandatory in China for narcotic and psycotropic drugs, blood products, vaccines, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) infusions since Oct. 31, 2008, the announcement said.
- MS